


Summer Daze

by BalletCoppelia



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I do it because I love him rip, time to mess with David
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2019-10-09 02:39:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17398445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BalletCoppelia/pseuds/BalletCoppelia
Summary: Jasper was used to life as a counselor at Camp Campbell with his fellow counselor Gwen, not much changed while he'd worked there, other then the kids. But this summer, a sudden third counselor joining the camp unexpectedly threw everything out of place. Why is he here now? What's his connection to Campbell? The answers to Jasper's questions would change Camp Campbell as he knew it.





	1. Baited Breath

Rays of sunlight shone through the windows of the counselor’s cabin at Camp Campbell, their morning almost ready to start. Sounds of songbirds could be faintly heard from outside and fresh morning air filled the cabin from an open window, cooler then the oppressive heat of the previous evening.

A loud alarm cut through the early morning calm and woke the counselors to start another day.

“Ugh, another great day at Camp Hell on Earth.”

Jasper sat up and looked over at his fellow counselor, who was currently still face down on her pillow. Gwen definitely wasn’t getting up until at least the second alarm.

“Well, there’s less fire at...camp...” Jasper trailed off and frowned, thinking about how often the campers start fires. “We don’t have the Devil?” He didn’t sound entirely sure of his already half-hearted defense of the camp.

Gwen’s muffled voice emerged from her pillow. “Does Campbell count?”

Jasper was hunting around for clean clothes by this point and paused to consider. “Okay, I’ll give you that.”

The second alarm went off then and Gwen groaned into her pillow. “Only one more until you need to get up.” Jasper reminded her.

“Ugh.”

XXX

The smell of breakfast cooking helped wake up Jasper a little more, though concerns about what the Quartermaster actually made for them might have been what actually did it. (Seriously, Jasper can’t tell what it is. It’s probably safe to eat at least. Hopefully.)

Breakfast at Camp Campbell was always chaotic, but this year’s batch of kids seemed especially disruptive. Jasper was just glad the kids were at least willing to stay in the mess hall while causing chaos, mostly. Max was usually an exception, but he looked like he’d be satisfied with just glaring today.

Gwen wandered over clutching her coffee cup tightly. “No breakfast?” Jasper said. “You’re gonna need the energy, we’re getting our last two new campers today remember.”

Gwen sat down and dragged her hand over her face. “Yeah, don’t remind me.”

The sound of loud laughter from the other side of the room caught both of their attentions. Gwen sighed and asked, “Whose turn is it to explain to Space Kid that he can’t drink through his helmet?”

Jasper stood up, reluctantly smiling. Though Space Kid’s persistent denial of reality was mostly annoying (and often life threatening), there was something about it that Jasper found kind of endearing. “I’ve got it Gwen, go ahead and finish your breakfast.” Gwen sighed gratefully and took a long drink of coffee as Jasper left.

On his way to help Space Kid, Jasper was interrupted by Max standing up and stepping in front of him. “Did I hear you right, we’re getting two more suckers joining us at this hell hole?” Max said, as if more kids attending the phony camp was somehow Jasper’s fault.

“Yes Max, two more campers will be coming to camp. You however should stop eavesdropping and finish your breakfast. Also, language.”

Max scoffed at the afterthought of a reprimand. “You can’t tell me what to do. What time are they getting here?” He asked.

Jasper stared down at him suspiciously. “Why do you care?” 

Max rocked back on his heels, trying to seem casual as he answered. “I can’t just be curious?”

“Not you, Mr. Escape Artist, I see no reason for you to know the exact time the bus gets here.” Jasper looked over at Space Kid again. “Now shoo, I’ve got campers that actually need my help.” Jasper said as he continued to the other side of the mess hall.

“Space Kid needs mental help.” Max scoffed under his breath as he reluctantly sat back down.

XXX

A long first day at camp left Neil thankful for his bed in the tent he shared with Max. The camp beds, just fabric stretched over a frame, may not be the nice beds he'd pictured having, much like nothing at the camp had been as he'd expected, but for now it'd be fine.

Except, something felt the need to remind Neil why he'd tried to escape camp earlier.

“Aaaaaahh!” Neil jumped out of his camp bed in terror.

Max looked over from where he was lying on his own bed. “Did you find a bug, because news flash, there are lots of them here, and they love our beds.”

Neil shuddered. “There aren’t supposed to be bugs, this was supposed to be Science Camp.” He said as he cautiously shook out his blanket, eyes trained for any more bugs. “I was going to spend the summer in air conditioned buildings, learning about science, not sleeping on dirt and insects!” As Neil got more agitated, he shook the bag harder and harder until he finally lost his grip and it fell to the ground with a sad plop.

Neil could hear the nighttime insects chirping away merrily outside. Traitors.

Max sat up, incentivized by Neil’s rant. “All the more reason to get out of here. This garbage pit of a camp isn’t gonna get any better, so it’s up to us to leave.” Max was standing up by now, passionate in his anger.

“Yeah!”

“Nikki?!” Neil said shrilly. “What are you doing in our tent?”

“I heard there were bugs here, and I want ‘em!” Nikki started pawing through Neil’s things on her search for creepy-crawlies.

Neil batted at her, somewhat ineffectively. “It was in my bed, get out of my stuff! It’s probably on the ground by now.” His words succeeded where his physique had failed and Nikki switched to scrounging around the ground.

Max surveyed his co-conspirators, Nikki on her hands and knees excitedly searching for the wayward bug, Neil trying to restore order to his belongings, meticulously arranging them back to how he’d set them up when he’d unpacked.

Together, they could really go places.

Specifically, away from this camp.

XXX

Gwen fell into her bed face first, exhausted. With two new campers, Mr. Campbell’s appearance and getaway, and Max’s several escape attempts she was feeling rather burnt out. “Jasper, remind me again why I work here?” 

Jasper sat up from where he was slouched in his chair at his desk. “I don’t even know why I work here Gwen, I really can’t help you.”

Gwen rolled over. “Gah, we’re both so pathetic.”

Jasper looked around the small cabin he shared with her, thinking. If the campers didn’t want to be at the camp, the counselors hated their jobs, and the owner seemed uninterested in the camp, why keep it open as long as it’s been? The seemingly obvious answer would be money, but Mr. Campbell clearly had other (granted, more illegal) means of making money, why the camp?

His gaze landed on the picture of him as a child at camp, the reason Jasper never thought too hard about Camp Campbell. He had loved the camp at first, was sure he’d want to come back year after year. He’d even found a friend in Davey.

After Davey had left early though, (without even saying goodbye?) Jasper started to realize how crummy the camp was. For years after camp he’d tried to find Davey, and still tried occasionally, Davey was nowhere to be found though. It was like his friend had dropped off the face of the earth.

Maybe that was why Jasper kept coming back; he was trying to recreate the past, at least a little bit.

Not that it seemed to be working.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The events of episode 1 happen pretty much the same in this universe, I just didn't really want to go over them again. There isn't really any of the plot in this chapter yet, just some slice of life stuff for this version of Camp Campbell, but next chapter we'll start to hit that good good plot. I should get that out soon, but after chapter 2 I'll probably be pretty slow with updates.


	2. Things Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some stronger swearing in this chapter, but honestly this is Camp Camp, you’re probably expecting it.

Rustling from outside woke Jasper up from his sleep, probably raccoons. He probably didn’t need to get up. He could just roll over, and go back to sleep.

Staring up at the wood of the roof he could hear the sounds getting closer to the front of the cabin.

Reluctantly Jasper threw back his blanket and got out of bed, moving carefully in an effort not to wake Gwen. Moonlight illuminated his path to the door, guiding him with a cold, indifferent eye. Approaching the door, Jasper felt a chill run down his back, raising goose bumps as it went.

The hot summer air felt heavy in the small cabin, as tense as Jasper had also suddenly become. Why was he making such a big deal of this? It was probably nothing after all.

It didn’t feel like nothing though.

The sounds from outside stopped at the same time as the door knob in front of Jasper turned. Jasper stepped back, now mildly alarmed, just far enough that he wasn’t struck by the door as it came flying open. “Jake, Grace, I’ve got great news!”

The imposing figure of Cameron Campbell stood in the doorway where he’d just flung open the door, fists firmly planted on his hips and a mile wide smile on his face.

Gwen pushed herself up from the floor where she’d fallen when Campbell’s entrance had startled her awake. “Mr. Campbell?” She asked groggily. “I thought you were going to ‘the nearest international waters’?”

Campbell’s smile dimmed at her words. “Yes well, plans change.” He turned away and Jasper barely heard him grumble under his breath, “Especially when one of your false identities has been compromised.”

Oh goodie, Campbell in hide-the-evidence mode was never fun, even more so during the middle of the night. “You said you had good news?”

“I did indeed Jack! You know how the two of you are always complaining about the jobs that I actually pay you real actual money to do?” By the end of his sentence Campbell sounded outraged that they’d ever complain about a job that he sacrificed money to.

Gwen squinted suspiciously at him. “Yeah, not very much though.” 

“And how you complain about supposedly being understaffed?” Campbell continued, ignoring Gwen’s interruption.

“I’d say the lack of funds is more pressing then the amount of counselors, considering how many different camps we’re trying to run.” Gwen said.

Jasper didn’t think he liked where this seemed to be going. What possible good reason could there be for Campbell to show up in the middle of the night and start talking about being understaffed? And right after he’d mentioned losing one of his fake names? Jasper didn’t want to mess with anything Campbell was trying to hide.

“Well, I’ve listened to your complaining and found a new counselor to join you!” Campbell said, determinedly ignoring Gwen.

Since when did he care about their complaints, let alone do anything to fix them?

Campbell turned back to the open door to the cabin and pulled on the arm of a man that had apparently been waiting outside of the cabin, and brought him inside. “Say hello to my, um...” Campbell paused and looked to the side as if thinking. “...nephew, Davis!”

Campbell’s supposed nephew was a tall lanky man about Jasper’s age, carrying a duffel bag and wearing a beanie hat over vibrant red hair that peeked out from the hat in the front. His pants were too short at the ankles, his sneakers looked old and tattered, and the slightly oversized green hoodie he was wearing had bleach stains speckled across the shoulders.

Davis stopped moving into the cabin as soon as Campbell stopped pulling on him; seemingly content to stand where he’d been placed. His green eyes didn’t look around at all with curiosity; he actually didn’t seem to be looking at anything, just staring vacantly forward.

“What the fuck.” Gwen was staring at Davis in vague horror even as she was talking to Campbell, as if the mere sight of Davis was like a train wreck she couldn’t look away from.

“Since when did you have a nephew?” Jasper asked, trying to recall if Campbell had ever mentioned any family to him in his time at the camp. “Or a sibling even?” 

“Since always of course, he just wasn’t important enough to bring up until now!” Campbell said dismissively.

Wow, what a nice thing to say about a member of your family, right in front of them even. Though Davis admittedly didn’t look offended by Campbell’s comment, but Jasper was uncertain Davis even heard Campbell, despite Davis progressing to half focusing on Campbell by now, though his gaze still seemed weirdly empty.

“Now, you don’t have to worry about your pay, Davis is volunteering at Camp Campbell, so I won’t have to cut anyone’s pay!” Campbell said this as if knowing their pay was safe would cause them to stop asking questions. If they were Campbell, it would probably work. As it was though...

“He’s volunteering? Why on earth would someone work at this garbage camp for free?” Gwen turned to Davis. “Why would you do that?”

“I...um...” Davis seemed vaguely surprised to see Gwen in front of him, talking to him instead of about him.

“Why is he starting now, already part of the way into the summer? Why not earlier, with Gwen and I? And why in the middle of the night?” The last question Jasper muttered to himself, though he suspected he knew at least the base of the answers for all three questions. It all circled back to Campbell’s criminal tendencies, how exactly Davis fit in is what Jasper really wanted to know.

“He was, ah, busy. But that’s not important.” Campbell stepped in between Gwen and Davis as he said this, diverting attention back to him. “I really should be going; I’m a busy man you know. I just came to drop off Davis.” Campbell set his hand on one of Davis’ shoulders. “I’ll just say goodbye to my nephew, and be on my way.” He said as he drew Davis away from Jasper and Gwen to talk to him privately.

Jasper looked at Gwen uneasily, unsettled by Campbell’s actions in a way he hadn’t been for a long time. In his time at Camp Campbell Jasper had gotten uncomfortably used to Campbell’s shady nature, but this was enough to shock him out of it. Jasper didn’t have many details, but the whole situation felt jarringly off, like an out of tune note in a song.

Jasper could see his emotions reflected back at him in Gwen’s face. Nothing quite matched bonding via dread over Campbell‘s crimes.

Campbell was talking quietly to Davis, both of his hands on Davis’ shoulders to keep his attention. Jasper could only hear small snippets of the conversation. “...can you do that for me?” Campbell said adamantly. Davis looked at Campbell with unfocused awe. “Yes Mist-“ Campbell held a hand up, interrupting Davis. “Uncle Cameron please, Davis.” Not suspicious at all. Subtlety really isn’t Campbell’s specialty.

“I really do have to go now. Jerome, Gavin-!”

“That’s not even a girl’s name!”

“-enjoy the extra help!” With that, Campbell left that cabin, having successfully dumped Davis on Gwen and Jasper, not that they exactly had any choice.

Campbell had just changed Jasper’s whole summer and just left like it was nothing. Campbell would regret it though; Jasper isn’t turning a blind eye this time.

But that’s a problem for later. Right now, it was something like three in the morning and they had camp to run tomorrow. (Technically today.)

Davis looked kind of lost standing next to the door without Campbell. “You can go ahead and set your stuff down, I’m Jasper and that’s Gwen.” Looking around the cabin Jasper thought of a problem. “Gwen, do we have much extra bedding? I can sleep on the floor until we come up with a better solution.” 

Gwen look at her bed, thinking. “I only really need one pillow, so you can have my other one and I’m pretty sure I have blankets under my bed that I didn’t need.” 

Davis leaned over and set his bag down, stumbling slightly. “I can sleep on the floor, you don’t have to.” Davis’ eyebrows creased as he frowned vaguely, showing probably the most emotion Jasper had seen from him so far.

Jasper probably should’ve held his ground on the matter a bit longer, but, to be honest with at least himself, he didn’t actually want to sleep on the hard wood floor of the cabin. Plus, denying Davis when he’s actually showing emotion about something would be bad right?

...

What a weak excuse to not sleep on the floor.

“Alright, if you’re sure then, I’ll go dig up the blankets I’m not using too. You’re gonna need your rest, meeting the campers for the first time can be rough.” Jasper said as he started digging around for blankets.

“Little shits.” Gwen tried to act annoyed, but Jasper could see her smiling a bit, her fondness for the kids showing despite herself.

Davis nodded his head determinedly, taking Jasper’s statement to heart, apparently entirely missing what Gwen said.

Gwen handed Davis a pillow and two blankets. “I don’t have any extra pillowcases, so the one on there isn’t one hundred percent clean, but the blankets should be.”  
Jasper straightened up with more blankets in his arms. “Here.” He said, giving them to Davis too. “I hope that’s enough, the floor is not exactly soft.”

“This is plenty, thank you.” Davis clutched the bedding tightly to himself, appearing surprised by how many he’d been given.

“Feel free to set up wherever you want, Gwen and I can just move around you. The bathroom is right through that door, I’m sure you’d like to get ready for bed, it’s pretty late.”

Davis looked around uncertainly, hesitant to trouble his new roommates, despite Jasper’s words to the contrary. He ended up just dumping everything in a corner, still slightly paranoid he was in the way.

As Davis left the room, Gwen turned to Jasper to talk. “So, Campbell is being hella suspicious right? It’s not just me? She asked in a hushed voice, eyes darting to the bathroom and back, trying to avoid Davis overhearing. “Campbell doesn’t care about how hard it is to run this camp with just the two of us and the Quartermaster. Whatever his reason for bringing Davis, it’s not really to help us.”

Gwen’s words mirrored Jasper’s earlier train of thought almost exactly, hammering home Campbell’s questionable motivations. “It’s not just you; I don’t believe pretty much everything Campbell just told us. Not much we can do about it right now though.” Gwen yawned just then, once again reminding Jasper of the early hour. “I’d like to ask Davis about all of this, but I wasn’t just trying to get him out of the room when I said it’s late, we really should get back to sleep.”

Gwen groaned. “I’m gonna need so much coffee tomorrow. Today. Whatever.” She abandoned the conversation to go back to sleep, giving Jasper time to think. His stagnant life had just been changed drastically; everything familiar upset and turned on its side.

But looking at the new signs of the third counselor in the room, the duffel bag and bedding on the floor, he couldn’t think of this sudden change as entirely bad. Something was clearly going on with Davis, and whatever it was didn’t seem to be doing Davis any favors. Really, Davis being a counselor might be a good thing for him. 

The whole situation felt unsettling to Jasper. He couldn’t put his finger on exactly why, but, assuming Davis didn’t disappear just as suddenly as he’d shown up, Jasper had all summer to figure out the truth.

Considering that it was like, three in the morning though, starting tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus points if you know what the chapter title is from. (Summer Daze, where the au is made up and the points don't matter.) This chapter was mostly written when I posted the first one, but from here on out I'll be taking longer between chapters.
> 
> My amazing sister drew something for Summer Daze! https://www.deviantart.com/sarishadyu/art/Davis-Dumb-Face-781711171


	3. Seed of Doubt

_The hot summer sun beat down on the camp, the heat giving a visible haze to the air. Jasper stood supervising the campers as they did today’s activity, away from the cooler shade. Unusually enough they actually seemed to be enjoying it, focusing all of their attention on fishing, the chaos typically brought with this batch of kids curiously absent._

_It was quiet enough that Jasper could clearly hear the crunch of leaves as his fellow counselor, Gwen, approached. She brought with her a chill breeze, though Jasper could still feel the warmth of the sunlight on his front even as behind him felt colder by the minute. Once Gwen came astride Jasper, he could not bring himself to look at her, for though he was sure she should be about the same height as him, there was an illusion of her towering over him if he looked too close. Her face and hair wouldn’t settle into familiarity either, for one moment the Gwen he knew, and the next a stranger with longer hair and a softer voice._

_A blinding gleam brought his attention back to the lake, where the campers were casting their lines in unison. All of their actions in unison, Jasper struggled to find differences between them. Their collective gaze turned from the shining lake to travel the vast distance to Jasper. As one, they removed one hand from their poles to point behind Jasper, perhaps at the source of the cold. From the corner of his eye Jasper could see frost creeping over the trees slowly, out of place for summer._

_The thing that was probably Gwen set her hand on Jasper’s shoulder, and though the sound of her words didn’t carry past her lips, silenced as soon as they existed, he understood she meant for him to look back as well._

_As if sensing Jasper’s reluctance to face the cold, the world slowly rotated around him. Stronger winds hit Jasper, leaving the kids (kid? Any visual differences between them had been blurred out, surely just caused by the shimmering heat) unaffected, content in their stifling air. The trees marching on parade past Jasper slowly turned from the bright full green of summer, to the fiery colors of fall, until finally the leaves all burned off leaving the bare branches of winter. Tendrils of darkness and immense gray clouds chased away the blue summer sky and the bright warm sun, casting the trees in shadow, giving them the illusion of long creeping fingers, reaching, hungry for anything to replace the leaves they’d lost._

_In the distance two figures moved towards Jasper, their movements slow, like they were traveling through molasses instead of air, though occasionally the opposite happened and their edges grew jagged as everything sped up briefly._

_Approaching Jasper, the two figures solidified into Mr. Campbell leading Davey by the hand, though Davey was still fuzzy at the edges, like static encroaching on a fading memory. In looking at Davey, straight into his eyes without looking down, Jasper realized he was as much a child as the campers by the lake now, or perhaps he’d always been and had just now been led to the realization. Winter followed behind them, blustering gusts blew biting snow, and ice froze over the straining trees, reaching for the passing figures even as touching them resulted in quicker coverage by the ice. Jasper couldn’t tell if the frost emanated from Davey or Campbell, but it proceeded slightly ahead of them, boiling and crashing in on itself like an ocean._

_Attempting to find his voice, Jasper tried to get Davey’s attention, precisely what he’d say was as yet unclear to Jasper though. Jasper heard his own voice, but nothing in Davey’s expression showed any sign of hearing. He just kept walking towards Jasper, unflinching._

_Davey and Campbell blurred again as time skipped, bringing them right in front of Jasper before he could try to move. Without hesitation they stepped forward as one right through Jasper, shorting out his vision in a field of white before dimming to show the lake again, and Davey and Campbell already most of the way to the shore which no longer had any children around it. The realization that it was just the three of them now (Probably Not Gwen had disappeared too) had Jasper hurrying towards the shore._

_The frost covered grass crunched under Jasper’s feet as he ran, absentmindedly noticing that the cold had spread almost everywhere, even to the far side of the lake, the surface icing over starting at the far shore and spreading fast. Ahead of the ice the water had changed from the calm blue water the children had been fishing in to choppy gray water._

_Campbell stopped as he reached the shore’s edge, releasing Davey’s hand from his grip slowly as Davey continued into the water. The moment his shoes touched the water the gray started to leech color from Davey, his bright red hair dulling gradually as he waded forward, Campbell’s intense gaze driving him farther into the deep alone._

_Shifting ground under Jasper caused him to stumble, the distance between him and the shore expanding beneath his feet as he desperately tried to get to Davey, dreading what would happen next, suddenly knowing he was running out of time with Davey. He fell over, his hand coming down on the ground hard, the frost surging up to hold it in place. Finding his balance Jasper pushed up to his feet once more, shattering the frost from his hand, though he could still feel it catching on his shoes with every step, trying to stop his journey to the shore, threatening to topple him again any minute._

_In the water Davey had stopped, turning around to face Jasper and Campbell, now very deep in the water, the ice surrounding him and approaching fast. Jasper had finally reached the water, running past an uncaring Campbell, and stepping carefully on the ice. For a split second Davey met Jasper’s gaze, intense and slightly desperate, as if he knew he was out of time, before looking up at sky filled with looming gray clouds. The wind ruffled his hair as he kept leaning to look up, finally falling backwards into the water in slow motion, sinking under the surface with hardly a splash._

_Jasper skidded to a stop at the spot that Davey had been just after the ice covered it up, coming down on his knees hard, too late to do anything more then helplessly pound on the abruptly solid water. Davey was still visible through the ice, though quickly sinking, his face calm except for slight signs of stress around his now closed eyes._

_The wind roared in Jasper’s ears, as his small hands futilely struck the ice again, frantic now. From the shore of the now entirely frozen lake Campbell’s intimidating presence towered over Jasper, glaring at him for noticing Davey’s submersion._

_Looking down again, Jasper despaired as Davey sank beyond where Jasper could see him, descending into the dark depths of the lake, farther and farther from the vibrant world beyond the surface of the suffocating calm water._

_A cold sensation at the back of his neck had Jasper breaking out in goosebumps, startled he turned around just in time to see an angry Campbell reaching for him before-_

Jasper woke suddenly, opening his eyes to the inside of the counselor cabin, abruptly aware that he had been dreaming. Jasper sat up and looked around the dark room, trying to hold on to the dream, trying to recall what it was about. But the harder he thought about it, the less he knew.

All he was left with was the feeling that he was forgetting something very important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops it's been months and this chapter doesn't even do anything for the plot!  
> I was working on what is now going to be chapter 4, and the inspiration for this dream struck and I just had to write it. So, sorry, but hopefully it's enjoyable?  
> I don't know when the next chapter will be up, I seem to have a very erratic writing schedule, but I'm not abandoning it, just slow.

**Author's Note:**

> The events of episode 1 happen pretty much the same in this universe, I just didn't really want to go over them again. There isn't really any of the plot in this chapter yet, just some slice of life stuff for this version of Camp Campbell, but next chapter we'll start to hit that good good plot. I should get that out soon, but after chapter 2 I'll probably be pretty slow with updates.


End file.
